DPP to press Jiang boycott regardless of vote outcome

By Lee Hsin-fang and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Tue, Oct 15, 2013 - Page 1

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said the party would still boycott Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) policy report to the legislature should the no-confidence motion against him fail today.

“Even if the no-confidence motion fails, it does not change the reasons the party has repeatedly blocked Jiang from delivering his report. What Jiang should do is not take the podium, but step down,” Su said in response to media inquiries about the motion.

The motion was sponsored by the DPP and the Taiwan Solidarity Union on Friday. It says that Jiang conspired with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) to launch a political “witch-hunt” against their enemies, including Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).

Su said whether Jiang should be allowed to make the report did not hinge on the success or failure of the no-confidence motion, but on his willingness to apologize for stirring up political turmoil, overstepping his constitutional mandate and getting involved in the witch-hunt.

Commenting on Jiang holding a press conference yesterday morning to dismiss the opposition’s rationale for initiating the motion, Su said it was too late for Jiang to attempt damage control.

“Jiang would not have had to hold the press conference if he had told Ma, when the president called him in to his office to discuss information on the investigation into Wang’s alleged improper lobbying on Aug. 31, that what he was doing was wrong,” Su said.

Instead of stopping Ma from pursing a vendetta against Wang, the premier chose to get involved, interfere with the judicial system and illegally disclose information obtained through wiretapping, Su said.

“The press conference will not be enough to consolidate Jiang’s premiership. Even if he survives the no-confidence motion, it does not mean he has the public’s trust,” Su said.

Su also dismissed claims that Jiang would be granted a “one-year job guarantee” if the motion fails, given that the Constitution bars the legislature from initiating another no-confidence motion against a premier within a year of a similar motion failing.

“While then-premier Sean Chen survived a no-confidence motion the party launched against him last year, he stepped down anyway after the party staged the ‘Fury’ [火大] mass rally against the Ma administration this year,” Su said.

Ma and Jiang were wrong in thinking that they could live under the protection of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers forever and defy public opinion as they pleased, he said.

To pressure KMT lawmakers into supporting the no-confidence motion, the DPP plans to mobilize about 2,000 DPP members from northern Taiwan to rally in front of the legislature this morning.

Several anti-nuclear academics and pro-localization groups are also due to join the rally, where participants are to hold red cardboard signs painted with the character ge (閣, “the Cabinet”) upside down to symbolize Jiang’s ousting.